Help for farmers
Farm families can seek advice and information on any farming-related concern from the Wisconsin Farm Center at DATCP by calling toll-free to 1-800-942-2474, or emailing farmcenter@wisconsin.gov. The center is staffed 7:45 a.m to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Farmers can also use the University of Wisconsin Extension's Drought 2012 resource web site, which provides frequent updates and useful information on subjects ranging from groundwater levels, crop insurance, and the effects of heat stress on livestock. The web address is fyi.uwex.edu/drought2012
MONROE- Ground water levels are dipping into historic lows for the month of July in southern Wisconsin, dropping to nearly 12 feet below land surface, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The U.S. Drought Monitor on July 12 changed the southern third of the state from moderate to severe drought conditions.
As of Friday, Monroe had received zero inches of rain for the month of July, and the area had just 0.20 inches for the entire month of June. Normally, on July 14 Monroe's year-to-date precipitation totals would be 19.77 inches. This year, the total is just 7.67 inches.
Rob Ten Eyck of Ten Eyck Orchard on Wisconsin 11/81 near Brodhead is already irrigating.
"We'll have apples, but not as many as last year," he said.
This is the driest season Ten Eyck can remember in his 60-plus years on the farm. The orchard has been in the family since 1839, encompassing six generations of southern Wisconsin farming tradition. Without rain soon, he'll be irrigating just to save the trees, he said.
Ten Eyck is irrigating because he already has the equipment and a permit to pump the water out of a nearby creek - and because he has about $10,000 per acre invested in the orchards. Corn growers without irrigation will not invest in the equipment just to save one year's crop of corn, he said.
Scott Sanford, a UW-Extension engineer, reports that the payback on irrigation should be the difference between doing nothing and purchasing and operating irrigation for the typical year - with 2012 being very atypical. If a farmer can't recover the amortized cost of an irrigation system with increased yields or higher quality in the average year over a period of years, then it's a poor investment and one should take the drought loss this year, he writes.
Ten Eyck said this year "has been a disaster anyway." The early warmth in March sent the trees into blossoms and the cold April frost for the 10 to 12 nights that followed killed so many of them.
"We got nailed in April," Ten Eyck said. "This was the only April on record that was colder than (the preceding) March."
The blossoms can be protected by spraying them with water, but this year it would not have done any good. "It was too cold. You can't put that much water on them," he said.
On Memorial Day, hail took out about a third of the crop.
Now he's rushing to get about an inch of water per week on the trees and hopes of saving the remaining apples. He's thankful the soil is good and deep.
"It's the same though for all apple growers across the Midwest," he said. "Apples in the Midwest are down, and who knows what the drought will bring."
That means higher prices for apples this fall, no matter where they come from. But Ten Eyck said he can't push his prices too high or people will just turn away from them.
Ten Eyck said the Michigan apple crop is at about 10 percent. Across Wisconsin the harvest yields vary, from zero to about 50 percent, and in good spots up to 70 percent will get harvested. Washington State will get a good crop, he said.
According to the UW-Extension website on drought, to apply a one-inch depth of water to an acre of land requires 27,154 gallons. The water requirement of crops (evapotranspiration) in recent weeks has averaged about one-fourth inch per day to grow a productive crop without stress. Therefore, a grower will need sufficient capacity to supply 6,800 gallons of water per day per acre of irrigated land to keep up with plant transpiration and evaporation. If a farmer is pumping from a well or a surface water source and can pump 24 hours per day, this equates to about a five-gallon-per-minute flow rate.
Cattlemen are also looking for more alternatives to save their herds.
With Wisconsin's agricultural sector facing its driest growing season in a quarter century, State Senator Dale Schultz and Assembly Representative Travis Tranel called upon the U.S. Department of Agriculture to open acreage in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for haying and grazing to combat historic drought conditions.
"Today's drought condition update confirms what Wisconsin farmers already know," Schultz said. "This is the worst summer we've seen since 1988, and it calls for an exceptional measure like opening up that CRP acreage."
On July 11, the USDA said it would lower producers' annual rent payment on CRP acres used for emergency haying or grazing from 25 percent to 10 percent. However, Schultz and Tranel think farmers need even more flexibility.
"We commend Secretary Vilsack for already acting to reduce CRP payments for drought stricken producers and we can do more," Tranel said. "As farmers attempt to cope with these historic circumstances, they need access to every tool in the shed."
The UW-Extension posted a report from Monroe on Wednesday: "Soils are dry down to the three-foot depth level, and corn is really suffering on shallow soils. Much of the crop is now trying to shoot tassels under severe stress, and pollination will be very poor in many fields, unless we receive significant precipitation within a week. Some have already started chopping poor corn, but moisture levels are still too high (75-80 percent) for proper storage and fermentation. Forages and grain will be in short supply. Many farmers will not cut third and fourth crop due to little regrowth."
On July 9, Gov. Walker declared a drought emergency in 42 counties, enabling farmers to contact the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to seek an expedited permit to use stream or lake water for irrigation. Schultz and Tranel joined Governor Scott Walker in encouraging the state's crop and livestock farmers to seek out resources available to cope with the drought.
As of Friday, Monroe had received zero inches of rain for the month of July, and the area had just 0.20 inches for the entire month of June. Normally, on July 14 Monroe's year-to-date precipitation totals would be 19.77 inches. This year, the total is just 7.67 inches.
Rob Ten Eyck of Ten Eyck Orchard on Wisconsin 11/81 near Brodhead is already irrigating.
"We'll have apples, but not as many as last year," he said.
This is the driest season Ten Eyck can remember in his 60-plus years on the farm. The orchard has been in the family since 1839, encompassing six generations of southern Wisconsin farming tradition. Without rain soon, he'll be irrigating just to save the trees, he said.
Ten Eyck is irrigating because he already has the equipment and a permit to pump the water out of a nearby creek - and because he has about $10,000 per acre invested in the orchards. Corn growers without irrigation will not invest in the equipment just to save one year's crop of corn, he said.
Scott Sanford, a UW-Extension engineer, reports that the payback on irrigation should be the difference between doing nothing and purchasing and operating irrigation for the typical year - with 2012 being very atypical. If a farmer can't recover the amortized cost of an irrigation system with increased yields or higher quality in the average year over a period of years, then it's a poor investment and one should take the drought loss this year, he writes.
Ten Eyck said this year "has been a disaster anyway." The early warmth in March sent the trees into blossoms and the cold April frost for the 10 to 12 nights that followed killed so many of them.
"We got nailed in April," Ten Eyck said. "This was the only April on record that was colder than (the preceding) March."
The blossoms can be protected by spraying them with water, but this year it would not have done any good. "It was too cold. You can't put that much water on them," he said.
On Memorial Day, hail took out about a third of the crop.
Now he's rushing to get about an inch of water per week on the trees and hopes of saving the remaining apples. He's thankful the soil is good and deep.
"It's the same though for all apple growers across the Midwest," he said. "Apples in the Midwest are down, and who knows what the drought will bring."
That means higher prices for apples this fall, no matter where they come from. But Ten Eyck said he can't push his prices too high or people will just turn away from them.
Ten Eyck said the Michigan apple crop is at about 10 percent. Across Wisconsin the harvest yields vary, from zero to about 50 percent, and in good spots up to 70 percent will get harvested. Washington State will get a good crop, he said.
According to the UW-Extension website on drought, to apply a one-inch depth of water to an acre of land requires 27,154 gallons. The water requirement of crops (evapotranspiration) in recent weeks has averaged about one-fourth inch per day to grow a productive crop without stress. Therefore, a grower will need sufficient capacity to supply 6,800 gallons of water per day per acre of irrigated land to keep up with plant transpiration and evaporation. If a farmer is pumping from a well or a surface water source and can pump 24 hours per day, this equates to about a five-gallon-per-minute flow rate.
Cattlemen are also looking for more alternatives to save their herds.
With Wisconsin's agricultural sector facing its driest growing season in a quarter century, State Senator Dale Schultz and Assembly Representative Travis Tranel called upon the U.S. Department of Agriculture to open acreage in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) for haying and grazing to combat historic drought conditions.
"Today's drought condition update confirms what Wisconsin farmers already know," Schultz said. "This is the worst summer we've seen since 1988, and it calls for an exceptional measure like opening up that CRP acreage."
On July 11, the USDA said it would lower producers' annual rent payment on CRP acres used for emergency haying or grazing from 25 percent to 10 percent. However, Schultz and Tranel think farmers need even more flexibility.
"We commend Secretary Vilsack for already acting to reduce CRP payments for drought stricken producers and we can do more," Tranel said. "As farmers attempt to cope with these historic circumstances, they need access to every tool in the shed."
The UW-Extension posted a report from Monroe on Wednesday: "Soils are dry down to the three-foot depth level, and corn is really suffering on shallow soils. Much of the crop is now trying to shoot tassels under severe stress, and pollination will be very poor in many fields, unless we receive significant precipitation within a week. Some have already started chopping poor corn, but moisture levels are still too high (75-80 percent) for proper storage and fermentation. Forages and grain will be in short supply. Many farmers will not cut third and fourth crop due to little regrowth."
On July 9, Gov. Walker declared a drought emergency in 42 counties, enabling farmers to contact the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to seek an expedited permit to use stream or lake water for irrigation. Schultz and Tranel joined Governor Scott Walker in encouraging the state's crop and livestock farmers to seek out resources available to cope with the drought.